These Players Ignited My Intensity

By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Monday, May 26, 2025
Photo credit: Robert Prange/Getty

Danielle Collins competes with such ferocity, you’d think defiance is in her DNA.

Actually, Collins credits fellow Floridians for igniting the inferno of intensity she carries on court today.

Hackers helped turn 12-year-old Danielle Collins into the feisty Grand Slam finalist Danimal Collins fans know and love—or love to call “Dan-Yell”—today.

Collins cracked eight aces in a 7-6(1), 6-4 victory over Briton Jodie Burrage today to reach the Roland Garros second round. Should Collins beat tricky lefty Olga Danilovic in round two she would play world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the third round if seeds hold true to form.

Hall of Famer John McEnroe asked Collins if she always played with such “insane intensity” during today’s post-match interview on TRU TV’s MacZone Roland Garros coverage.

The St. Petersburg native shared the story of how facing “competitive as hell” adult rec players ignited intensity in her.

Collins’ father and original coach, Walter Collins, had her square off against grown men playing in 4.0 and 4.5-level Florida leagues, partly because the family couldn’t afford the cost of junior camps, and primarily because he believed it would strengthen his daughter’s competitive spine.

It turned out to be a genius coaching move by Walter Collins and one that sparked the flames of the fiery Danimal Collins we see today.

“I’ll tell you what, if you ever see these 4.0 and 4.5 guys and I was playing against a lot of them growing up,” Collins told McEnroe. “Because my dad really felt like the best practice I could get was playing with the guys versus just being in these little kids’ camps. And they cost an arm and a leg sometimes—we didn’t have that.

“So my dad would have me play matches against these 4.0 and 4.5 guys and I’ll tell you what: They’re competitive as hell.”

A 12-year-old Danielle Collins learned from those “cut-throat” rec players to go hard every single point or go home a loser. In short, those matches shaped Collins’ competitive tenacity and toughness.

“They taught me to be a competitor. They’re slicing and dicing and making close line calls and getting in your face,” Collins told McEnroe. “I mean these people compete hard. League tennis, if you want to see competitive people, there’s some cut-throat stuff out there.

“I mean I laugh looking back against some of these people I played. My God, they were playing against a 12-year-old girl doing these [makes fist pumping gesture] and now that’s the way that I am on court.”

Inspired by Florida’s hard-core hackers, Collins has grown into a two-time NCAA champion and former Australian Open finalist who fearlessly lectured Iga Swiatek at the Paris Olympics and called out taunting fans at the Australian Open last January.

“The people that don’t like you, and the people that hate you, they actually pay your bills. Obviously my professional career is not going to last forever,” Collins said in her Australian Open post-match press conference last January. “Anyone who bought a ticket to come out here and heckle me, it’s all going toward the Danielle Collins Fund.”

Later, Collins added that her third-round paycheck would go to pay for a 5-star vacation with her friends later this year.

Danielle Collins to the crowd after beating Aiava at Australian Open

“During the match I was like, while I’m out here I might as well take that big fat paycheck.”

The crowd is booing.

It’s all happening.
pic.twitter.com/b3pxejPHkc

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) January 16, 2025

Regardless of whether she’s playing before a supportive crowd or hostile fans, Collins will use it to fuel her desire just as she learned from playing against those “cut-throat” hackers as a kid.